Way back in 1999, the weather conditions were ideal for making sparkling wine base in the Hunter. This is rare because traditionally, sparkling chardonnay grows in cooler climate regions. The one off event produced a wine that is rich and long living. When we realised that we had something very special indeed we decided to disgorge and release some of it in February 2003, on Rob's mum's 80th birthday.

In her honour, her named the wine with the nickname that her husband, Rob's dad had given her when they first met in the 1940's. As you can imagine, when Rob presented her with bottle number 1 on her birthday, she was overcome. Unfortunately she passed away in June 2006 but her name lives on in the sparkling we have left. When you drink this wine, don't forget to toast Joey.